ATSSA to partner with FailSafe-ERA on Right Road Job Training and Placement Program

The American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) will partner with FailSafe-ERA on the Right Road Job Training and Placement Program, a program that helps qualified returning citizens receive the training and job resources they need to put them on a path to success in temporary traffic control.

Reducing fatalities on rural roads remains a major challenge in the United States. In 2016, 18,590 lives were lost on rural roads—more than half of all traffic deaths—even though only 19 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas. Two-thirds of these rural fatalities involved a roadway departure, where a vehicle crosses a center line, an edge line, or otherwise leaves its travel lane.

Roadway departure countermeasures are regularly used on roads with higher functional classifications and are proven methods for reducing crashes and improving the safety of the transportation system. Crash modification factors have been developed and promoted for several of these countermeasures, and they can be applied more broadly using existing tools and processes.

This research studies the upgrade programs implemented by Sioux City, IA, Mendocino, CA, Putnam County, NY, and the Insurance Institute of British Columbia, Canada, and identifies other projects that upgraded sign materials. The research evaluates each implementation practice and examines the crash results, including crash types, sign locations in relation to the crashes, time of day, light vs. dark, weather, and other factors that may have influenced the signs’ effectiveness. In addition, state and/or national baseline crash information for the same time periods will help establish trends.